To the Fountain of Bandusia

BANDUSIA, stainless mirror of the sky!
Thine is the flower-crown’d bowl, for thee shall die,
When dawns again yon sun, the kid;
Whose budding horns, half-seen, half-hid,

Challenge to dalliance or to strife—in vain!
Soon must the hope of the wild herd be slain,
And those cold springs of thine
With blood incarnadine.

Fierce glows the Dog-star, but his fiery beam
Toucheth not thee: still grateful thy cool stream
To labour-wearied ox,
Or wanderer from the flocks:

And henceforth thou shalt be a royal fountain:
My harp shall tell how from yon cavernous mountain,
Topt by the brown oak-tree,
Thou breakest babblingly.